Novel rating scales for schizophrenia — Targeted Inventory on Problems in Schizophrenia (TIP-Sz) and Functional Assessment for Comprehensive Treatment of Schizophrenia (FACT-Sz)

ObjectiveMany rating scales have been in use to evaluate various symptomatic domains, and eventually there are too many scales to be selected and widely utilized in busy real-world settings. Relevant, quick, and user-friendly assessment scales are needed to facilitate measurement-based treatment of schizophrenia.MethodsThe authors created unique convenient assessment scales: Targeted Inventory on Problems in Schizophrenia (TIP-Sz), and Functional Assessment for Comprehensive Treatment of Schizophrenia (FACT-Sz). The TIP-Sz consists of 10 items (behavioral dyscontrol/disorganization, hostility/agitation/violence, indifference/affective withdrawal/motor retardation, symptoms on mood/anxiety/obsession/compulsion, insight/reality testing, social competence/independence, adherence to treatment, therapeutic alliance/comfort of therapists on the situation, overall prognostic impression, and subjective well-being/satisfaction with therapy). They are all common and frequently problematic, and each item is rated from 0–10. The FACT-Sz evaluates psychosocial functioning of patients with a score of 0–100, and is judged entirely on an objective basis. Their correlations with the frequently utilized Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), and Clinical Global Impression-Severity subscale were determined.ResultsData on 36 patients, assessed separately by four experienced psychiatrists, were analyzed. Under an excellent interrater reliability among raters (Intraclass correlation coefficients: 0.822–0.966), correlations among the scales were very high (Spearman's ρ: 0.825–0.909), and other indicators of the scale were generally good. Specifically, the TIP-Sz and FACT-Sz could be rated at 1/3–1/4 of time to complete the PANSS and GAF.ConclusionThe TIP-Sz and FACT-Sz proved to be reliable and valid, which would be of value in daily clinical practice as a minimum standardized assessment set.